World Premiere

Official Selection Feature

Short Synopsis:

Belle Gunness is "The Man Eater". She has magical effects on men. If you meet her be careful. The next thing you know you are selling out your best friend or getting a divorce from your beautiful wife. But if you can swing it, you just might have the time of your life.

Review:

This sexy indie comedy has a post-modern twist, with various famous actors playing themselves, including James Duvall, Jason London and even a cameo from porn legend Ron Jeremy. With a host of strong comic performances and a laid back, naturalistic style, much of the film consists of conversational dialogue, providing a male perspective on sex and relationships.

Set in Los Angeles, the film tells the story of one woman’s devastating allure and outrageous sex drive: uber man-eater Belle. Her mystical power over every guy she meets sees friendships ruined and marriages destroyed, but the woman herself remains absent. Broken into three chapters and told with a clever episodic structure, we discover Belle’s trail of destruction, obsession, broken hearts and confusion mainly through retrospective dialogue and anecdotes.

Despite her absence, Belle’s character looms large over proceedings from the start, as we witness the obsessive and jealous behaviour of her besotted boyfriend Franklyn. In the last chapter, when she finally appears, there is a tonal shift towards domestic drama as we see the dynamics of her and Franklyn’s dysfunctional relationship after a disastrous attempted foursome. Consistently funny and often bizarre, The Black Belle offers a frank, experimental and explicit alternative to the Hollywood rom-com.